Fujifilm have announced/released a 33mm f/1.0 prime lens. That’s equivalent to roughly a 50mm f/1.4 lens for a “full frame” DLSR. Needless to say, the thing is huge! I’d even go so far as to say ridiculously huge! Especially since a 50mm f/1.4 is a much smaller lens!

Seeing things like this, and the ever increasing size of the “better” Fujifilm cameras, I’m beginning to wonder if Fujifilm have lost their focus. On of the advantages of a mirrorless camera built around a small (APS-C or MFT) sensor was supposed to be a smaller, lighter, nimbler camera. Instead, we’ve now got camera bodies as big as Sony’s A7/A9 series, and lenses that rival or exceed the size of Canon’s EF-L series.

When Fuji started coming out with the f/2 lenses (35mm, 23mm, and 50mm), which are sharp, punchy, and extremely compact, I thought they were really on the right track. Coupled with an X-T20, the package is pretty close in size and weight to the Olympus MFT offerings, with the advantage of Fuji’s larger APS-C X-Trans sensor and superb in-camera processing engine.

While, so far, I’ve managed to keep my own bag more-or-less reasonable — so long as you don’t count the three camera bodies and two flashes — with just the XF18-55, the XC50-230, and the XF14mm, I feel like even that’s getting a bit out of hand. I left Canon and Sony to downsize, as I was so ably reminded this past weekend by the little X10 I started my Fuji journey with.

Frankly, while I realize that the 2/3” sensor is supposedly no longer made, I think Fuji need to look backward, and capitalize on the concept of a camera like the X10/X20/X30, but with a 20MP 1-inch sensor. If Sony’s RX100 series is any indication, the resulting camera wouldn’t necessarily need to be larger that the X30 was. Heck, it might even be able to be made smaller!

As much as I’ve been writing about music stuff, I haven’t been doing much, if any, photography aside from cell phone snaps at work. Last night, I went to see Several Species, a Pink Floyd tribute band based here in the Baltimore area. As always, the put on a great show — better, in many ways, than an actual Pink Floyd concert. Like many venues, MECU usually has restrictions on what kind of cameras that the general public can bring in. The general rule of thumb is that the lens can’t extend more than 3 inches. So, I took along my Fujifilm X10 to use from my 12th row center seat.

The X10 is quite a few years old now, and it’s 12MP, 2/3 inch sensor, while excellent, is challenged in certain situations, like concerts. Still, I’m pretty happy with the images, despite the fact that some are pretty noisy, and that I missed/lost a few shots due to the slow auto focus.

What I’d really like is for Fujifilm to “grow up” the X10/X20/X30 series into a camera with a larger sensor — either 1” or APS-C — with an equivalent lens, for instance, an 18.5-75mm f/2.8-4.8 zoom for an APS-C sensor. Of course, that may make for a lens that extends greater than 3 inches…

It's really disappointing when a company known for premium products falls down. But that seems to be exactly what's happening at Ultimate Support Systems.

Just over a year ago purchased Ultimate's Apex AX48-Pro-Plus dual-tier keyboard stand (pictured here). The Apex is a good-looking stand, and I'd owned one many years ago. The one I had previously was built like a tank, and so, I had every expectation that this one would be, too. Upgrades over the previous model included a stabilizing foot on at the player side of the base, and an attachment point for a microphone boom, which is included in the "plus" model. As with the original version, the feet fold smartly into the bottom of the stand, and the support arms fit neatly into slots in the top of the column.

Full of great expectations, I received the Apex and immediately put it to use. I had just joined 7Souls, and had decided that I was going to need to use two keyboards with the band, and that my Ultimate V-Stand with a second tier wouldn't really do (the V-Stand.was another disappointment, but I'll write about that some other time). My setup then was a Roland V-Combo VR-09 on top, a Casio Privia PX310 on the bottom, and I built a custom pedal board to fit over the base to hold sustain and volume pedals, as well as a TC Helicon Voice Mechanic pedal, and foot-switches to control OnSong.

Everything was fine and dandy, until a few months in. I was packing up after a rehearsal, and grabbed the stand by it's handle to flip it over to fold up the feet. As I turned the stand over, the handle broke off in my hand, sending the stand crashing to the floor.

Unlike my original Apex, which had a very nice, solid handle made of metal, the new Apex sports a plastic handle, held in place with plastic clips that allow it to slide up and down in the columns central track, and its position was locked with a thumbscrew. The strain of picking up the stand and turning it over had cause the plastic attachment points to shatter.

My solution was to grumble a bit, and use a pair of self-tapping machine screws to attach a sturdy metal handle from the hardware store. It doesn't adjust like the old one did, but it's not letting go any time soon.

But I do wish that I hadn't had to do that. And, in fact, I shouldn't have had to. Further, if the part had been made of metal, I wouldn't have.

Fast forward to last month, setting up for rehearsal. I'd set the stand in place, and was setting the Korg Kross 2 88 on the lower tier, when I heard a snapping noise, and saw something kind of scoot across the floor. Thinking I'd dropped something or knocked something off the pedal board, I bent down and discovered that I hadn't dropped anything. Instead, the leveling foot had snapped off the base.

Close inspection revealed that the plastic attachment point had broken. It appears that a captured nut had pulled right through the plastic locking plate, blowing out the front side. I haven't had time to come up with a solution for this problem just yet. It'll probably involved drilling and tapping the column for a 10-32 thumbscrew, which is what Ultimate should have done to begin with. In the meantime, I'm having to wedge the foot in place and strap it on with gaff tape, or wedge under the base of the stand to keep things steady -- or pretty much whatever it takes to keep the stand from falling over and spilling my keyboads onto the floor.

As if all this wasn't enough, last Friday night at a gig, the mic boom failed. It's no longer possible to tighten the boom enough to keep it from sinking under the weight of a microphone. It's really annoying when trying to sing and play, and the microphone is slowly sinking into the keyboards -- no matter how tightly I crank down on the locking handle. Fortunately, I have an old AKG telescoping boom arm "in stock", so I won't have to spend a chunk of change to get another decent one. Then again, after only a few months of use, I shouldn't have to.

As I said at the top of this missive, Ultimate once made the ultimate stand, but I think that's no longer true. Unfortunately, they still charge a premium price, while relying more and more on plastic where metal should be.

I'll continue to use the Apex, at least for a while (click here for a post that shows a picture of the rig). But I'll be on the lookout for something better. X-stands don't work well for me, as I like the two tiers to be flat and relatively close together. Z-stands a tremendously sturdy, but folded/disassembled, they are bulky and take too long to set up and tear down. I've had a couple different designs of A-frame stands from Ultimate, when they were good, and Standtastic. The Standtastic was okay, but a bit unwieldy to set up and it tended to slip around a bit.

After thirty-nine years of providing professional live audio services, I've finally decided I've had enough. It's time to "retire" from the business. Yes, I do remember that it was only a couple of months ago that I built new equipment racks and added two more wireless mics to the PA. And that I've been adding mics and new speakers and lights and other gear steadily over the past couple of years. I've built up a really nice PA system. It sounds good. Maybe even great. But at a gig last Tuesday night, I realized that I was just plain done. It has ceased to be fun.

So, that's that. I'm retired. From the business of doing sound.

It's not like getting rained on is the reason for my getting out. If that were it, I'd've gotten out years ago! I've lost track of the number of outdoor gigs I've done where rain has delayed the start of a show, ended it early, or inserted a big, long, comma in the proceedings. The big reason is that I'm not getting any younger, and there are other things I'd rather do. Like enjoy going to concerts, or taking pictures, or "playing with trains", or playing in the band, or just plain doing nothing.

I probably won't get rid of much of my gear, if any, as we'll continue to use it for 7Souls shows. Keep an eye on the band's site for show info (or check the sidebar here). If you're looking for good people to do sound for your band or event, contact me, and I'll put you in touch with some of the area's best.

Setting up for DOGFest, in Dailey, West Virginia, on a particularly rainy weekend, sometime in the mid-to-late 80s.Image scanned from a really bad 3x5 print, taken with a Canon AE-1, and probably a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

A quick postscript here; if you've already got a gig booked with me, if I've committed to a job for you, I'll be there. But, I'm not taking on any new work.

I was out watering some plants in our front and side beds this morning before work, and took a moment or two for a walk around the house. These tiger lilies are a little past their prime. As they whither in the morning sun, and the end of the morning's golden hour, the low sun angle accentuates the exquisite detail of the flowers.

As the lilies fade, the Yucca plants come into their own, sending stalks of white flowers soaring above the garden.

I hadn't been planning on a morning photo expedition, and so I had my phone with me instead of a proper camera. The Pixel 2 camera seldom fails to impress, and these pictures are no exception. That a phone camera can render such detail, and color and dynamic range is truly amazing to me. I don't know that I would have gotten better with a "proper" camera. I also relied on Google's Photos online app to do what little editing these photos required -- cropping, and a little attention to highlights and shadows and color are all these images got.

Here's the new rig. You'll recognize the Roland VR09 on top, and the new Korg Kross 2 88 is large and in charge on the bottom tier.

Friday night after work (and after picking up one of the cars from the shop), I went over to Coffey Music and picked up a Korg Kross 2 88. (Yes, I've been holding back on you. You'll just have to get over it). Goodness, gracious, there's a lot going on in there!

As you can see, it's taken its rightful spot on the stand. I'm trying now to decide just what I'm going to do with the Casio. The sad thing is that it still plays just fine through its internal speakers, but the jack panel on the back is pretty much shot and it's almost impossible to get it properly repaired. So, my quandary is whether or not to sell it, or buy the stand for it and set it up permanently at home ... Mmmm ....

Moving right along ...

I was definitely right in my last post about the angle of the keyboard throwing off the action. In playing position, it's much lighter, making it quite comfortable to play. So, my next task is choosing the "replacement" sounds to cover the Casio and assigning them as "favorites". After that, it's on the the really fun stuff dealing with loading in audio samples, and working with the arpeggiators to get that Baba O'Riley sound I've wanted to cover for years (okay, so I started making notes on that last night) -- I've finally got the instrument to do it with!

I did some fun testing last night, and found that my iPad recognized the Kross 2 instantly when I connected the two using Apple's "Camera Connection Kit", which is basically a fancy name for a Lightning to USB A adapter. I was multitracking in Garage Band in about thirty seconds. That, my friends, is how stuff needs to work. Fie on this silliness of loading drivers and hoping they fly.

I will need to load the drivers on onto a Windows laptop, though, so that I can use the editor/librarian software to get things configured and backed up a little more conveniently. Editing the arpeggios on the LCD screen on the keyboard won't be all that much fun, and it will be good to be able to prep samples before uploading, although the limited editing offered in the keyboard is actually quite serviceable as far as it goes. And, because the keyboard doesn't support sample ADSR looping, it goes as far as it really needs to. I'm hoping, though, that Korg can add full sample editing capability in the future, as Roland did on the Juno DS.

So far, only one disappointment, and one complaint. The disappointment is that the vocoder seems to only work in a limited number of pre-configured ways. I was hoping that I'd be able to select any sound as the carrier input, but that doesn't seem to be the case (or, maybe I just haven't figured that out yet). The complaint is with the editor software -- it's a fixed size, so on my "big" laptop, it uses only a small portion of the screen.

[UPDATE: It appears that I can use the vocoder effect on any sound, not just those that Korg have already set up. The result can be stored as a favorite for quick recall.]

And yes, I know. That's a lot of tabs open in Chrome. Forty-one to be exact. Who in their right mind needs forty-one browser tabs open?!?!? But, you get the picture. The editor is the black-and-grey app opened over Chrome. The section on the lower right, just above the keyboard, is one of the arpeggio editors. Those little, tiny squares within that are the places for the actual "notes" that make up the arpeggio. No matter. I'll figure something out.